An implication readers might draw from Dworkin's statement in Law's Empire that "the pragmatist thinks judges should always do the best they can for the future, in the circumstances, unchecked by any need to respect or secure consistency in principle with what other officials have done or will do." … This is an impoverished conception of pragmatism, one that merges pragmatism with act utilitarianism.

DEFINE: Distinguishes an 'impoverished' pragmatism—merged with act utilitarianism, lacking consistency-in-principle constraints—from a fuller pragmatist conception.

Richard A. Posner, Richard A. Posner - What Ha…, loc. 119